How about some scandal in your Christmas stocking?

HISTORY buffs may appreciate having their stockings filled with the latest books from Oxfordshire historian Julie Ann Godson, who recently enthralled her audience at the Thame Barns Centre.

Julie Ann Godson

Secret love affairs, murder, blackmail, poisoning and extortion: most of us enjoy a good scandal. And it’s even more fun when it involves our so-called betters. “Scandal in High Society Oxfordshire: twenty tales of toffs in trouble” tells a selection of jaw-dropping true stories of shenanigans in high places, from the Tudor period right up to the modern age.

Few readers will fail to be impressed by the sheer variety of ways in which the upper classes of the county have contrived over the centuries to behave badly, and usually to get away with it. Available on Amazon.co.uk at £10.99

“1066: Oxfordshire and the Norman Conquest – why it all started and finished in our county” is an entertaining romp through the events of the Norman Conquest in Oxfordshire. From Edward the Confessor’s birth in Islip through to the formal surrender in Wallingford after the Battle of Hastings, modern Oxfordshire provided the backdrop to major events that shaped the destiny of the whole nation. Available on Amazon.co.uk at £8.49

Julie Ann Godson studied modern history at the University of Oxford and worked for twenty years in publishing and design. She now lives in a country village near Oxford and makes regular appearances talking about her research. Her first book, The Water Gypsy: how a Thames fishergirl became a viscountess, was published in 2014, and tells the Cinderella story of a humble village girl who married an Anglo-Irish aristocrat in 1766. Some readers may remember Julie Ann’s entertaining talk on the subject at the Barns Centre in May of this year. See www.julieanngodson.com

Julie will be back at the Barns Centre next autumn.